Breaking Love Full Hearts 2 (30 page)

“
Oui, oui
, Megan,” he whispered in her ear.

She could feel his cock twitch inside her as he started to come in bursts. She joined him with her own slow orgasm pulsing through her, bringing intense pleasure to her entire body. She moaned and sighed happily, still dreaming. His arm gripped her firmly as they lay there, bodies pressed together on the small space of the couch.

* * *

Megan woke with a start. The house was pitch black and she sat up and fumbled around for her cellphone to see the time. It was 5:30 a.m.
What if Elliott had woken up
? she admonished herself.
This is the last thing he needs to see.

Realizing she didn’t have her jeans on, she reached around on the floor until she found them, then quietly stood. Luc was fast asleep with his head resting on a throw pillow. She watched him for a minute, trying to decide if she should wake him or not. She couldn’t bring herself to do so and instead tiptoed up the stairs to her own bed. What could be the harm in Elliott finding him asleep on the couch in his clothes? Exhausted, she collapsed onto her bed, pulling the covers up over herself and going immediately back to sleep.

* * *

Two hours later, she awoke to the smell of coffee brewing and the sound of Elliott and her mom chattering away with Luc in the kitchen. Looking at the clock, Megan jumped out of bed. “Shit!” she exclaimed. She would be late getting Elliott to school if she didn’t hurry.

She brushed her teeth, threw on a bathrobe and jogged down the stairs, eyes wide and hair a mess. When she got to the kitchen, she stopped. Elliott was already dressed and eating a bowl of cereal at the table while Luc packed his lunch kit.

Luc looked rumpled in the same T-shirt and jeans, with his hair messier than normal. Megan’s heart ached at the sight of him. He was so handsome and had slid so effortlessly into their lives. Here he was, making breakfast and packing Elliott’s lunch as though these were things he had been doing for years. He smiled at Megan, but in his eyes was a look of concern. She could tell he was worried that she would be upset he had stayed the night.

Megan smiled back gratefully. “Good morning,” she said as she walked over and gave Elliott a kiss on his forehead.

“Morning, Mom! Luc made my breakfast, and now he’s packing my lunch for me. I said we should wake you up but he thought we should let you sleep a bit more.”

“Thank you, Luc. That is really sweet of you,” Megan replied as Luc handed her a coffee.

She held the mug in both hands, feeling the warmth of it before she took a sip. “I should run upstairs and get dressed to take Elliott to school. I might take a quick shower, if you don’t mind holding down the fort for a few more minutes.”

“Go ahead. We’ve got everything under control here. Elliott is teaching me how to get kids ready for school.”

Megan gave him a big teasing grin. “Good. So you’ll know what to do in case you decide to start a daycare as your next big business venture.”

Helen looked up from her toast. “Megan, can you drive me over to my house after you drop Elliott off at school? I’d like some time at home to pay some bills and pick up a few things. I’ll be fine on my own for a few hours.”

“Okay, Mom.”

She hurried up the stairs to shower. As she started to undress, memories of the night before came flooding back into her mind. She and Luc had nearly had unprotected sex.

I’m acting like a horny teenager
, she thought.
Thank God Luc pulled out in time.

She was irritated with herself, realizing that her desire for him was so overwhelming she would have risked so much so stupidly just to be with him. She had never been this irresponsible in her life, even as a college student. Her heart sank as the realization that she was completely in love with him washed over her. She stood under the hot spray of water, knowing she would have to make him leave, and soon, before this went any further. She could not under any circumstances fall in love with this man. In her panic, she completely forgot about her dream.

* * *

“So, you must be really rich, right?”

“What makes you say that?” Luc replied mildly as he took a bite of his toast. He was seated at the table beside Elliott, who was finishing his second bowl of cereal.

“You took my mom on a private jet. Only rich people do that.”

“That’s solid logic, Elliott. It isn’t polite for me to talk about it, but I guess you could say I have enough money to do what I want.”

“Good. That means you can move here then.”

Luc choked on his coffee. “Why is that?”

“I can tell you like my mom, so if you can do whatever you want, that means you can move here and help her out. I’m looking for someone to help my mom out. My friend Jase’s parents are married to each other and it’s nice, because his mom doesn’t have to do everything for herself. Even if you aren’t married, you could still help my mom. She’d like that,” Elliott replied.

“Oh, well,” Luc stumbled to find the right words, “it’s not quite as simple as that. I have a lot businesses that I have to run in different parts of the world. I can’t just leave it all and move here.”

“Why not? You can just pay people to look after your businesses, can’t you?” Elliott looked perplexed as he tried to piece this together.

“Ah well, true, but when you own businesses like I do, you’re responsible for keeping an eye on everything to make sure that things are running smoothly. You owe it to the people who work for you to have a job for them. Does that make sense to you?”

“Sort of, I guess. But if your businesses are all over the place, you could live here and then keep going to check on them, couldn’t you?”

Luc didn’t notice that Megan had stepped into the room a moment earlier. “Elliot, if you’re done eating, you need to run upstairs and brush your teeth.”

“Can Luc take me to school, Mom?” Elliott asked as he passed her on his way upstairs.

“No, buddy. He’s got to get going. He has to go back home today.” Megan avoided looking at Luc while she spoke.

“Aw, really?” Elliott whined. “But when will he come back?”

“Just go brush, we’re going to be late!” she replied impatiently.

Luc eyed Megan uncertainly as she unzipped Elliott’s lunch kit to check it. She quickly zipped it back up. “Thank you for all your help,” she said without looking up.

“I’ve done something to upset you,” he said quietly as he stood and walked toward her.

“No,” she said quickly, turning away and going to the closet. “Um, it’s just . . . We’ll have to talk about it later. I should get Elliott to school.”

Luc rubbed his cheek with his hand, feeling the stubble against his palm. There was nothing more he could say with Helen standing at the door with them.

Elliott came running down the stairs and Megan handed him his coat. He slipped it on and rushed over to Luc.

“Here,” he said, placing a tiny green soldier in Luc’s hand. “So you know I’m still your friend, even when you aren’t here.”

Luc gave him a surprised look. “Are you sure you want to give me this? You just got it.”

“Yup! I’m sure I want you to have it. Besides, I have a whole box of them!”

Megan stood by the door with her coat and boots on, holding his backpack out to him. “Come on, Elliott. We really have to go.”

Elliott gave Luc a big hug and then held his hand out to do a fist bump. Luc returned the gesture. “Goodbye, Elliott. I’ve had such fun getting to know you.”

“Me too!” Elliott called back as he hurried over to Megan.

“See you in a bit,” Megan said, her voice expressionless.

Luc sat, holding the small toy in his hand, not sure what had just happened. Elliott had grown so attached to him that he had just asked him to move here. Megan’s demeanour had changed completely since her shower. It seemed like she couldn’t get rid of him fast enough. It didn’t take a genius to figure out why she was worried. She knew he would never make a good father for Elliott, and she had as much as just told him to leave. The night before, he and Megan had come dangerously close to admitting they were in love, which was the only rule they knew they couldn’t break in order for this to work. He was going to break Megan’s heart and her little boy’s too if he stuck around much longer. Luc could never live with himself if he became that guy who showed up to get what he wanted and then abandoned them over and over again. Helen was recovering quickly, and Megan didn’t need him to stay any longer to help her out.

* * *

After dropping her mom at her house, Megan pulled over on a side street. Helen had been quiet during the ride, having noticed what was going on between her daughter and Luc. Before Megan left her mom’s house, Helen had given her upper arm a little squeeze. “I know this is scary. Things have maybe moved a bit fast in the last few days, but it’s going to be alright if you let it happen, Megan. He’s a good man. I can see it. Let him in, honey.”

Megan had looked away from her mom’s gaze, trying to blink back her tears. She nodded at the floor before turning to leave. “I’ll be back in a couple of hours, Mom.”

Now as she sat in her car, she needed to figure out what to say to Luc when she got home. Her mind was swirling with everything the week had brought. Her heart ached as she thought of the man at her house. She wished she could just rush home and spend the entire morning in bed with him. How was she going to find the strength to push away the one thing she needed most? Resting her head on her hand, she slumped down in the seat. It all felt too hard to Megan. The need to be the good mom, to be ever-vigilant of her responsibilities, had never felt like more of a burden than it did now.

Atlanta, Georgia–—Five and a Half Years Earlier

Megan’s ears took in the horrible cry of her fourteen-month-old Elliott as soon as she opened the front door of her house. It was an early summer evening, and she had been out for a long-overdue and well-needed night out with Harper. She hadn’t been away from the baby or Ian in months, not since Ian’s shoulder injury. She had cared for both of them tirelessly and finally had been able to have a few precious hours of not being responsible for anyone. She and Harper had sat on a restaurant patio, laughing until their faces hurt and lounging in the fading sun while they drank sangrias and ate appetizers for dinner. Megan was still smiling as she stepped out of the cab and practically skipped up the sidewalk to her home. It felt so nice to just be Megan, the fun-loving young woman, for a few hours.

Now, as she closed the door behind her, she realized there was something frantic about the baby’s cry; it was a sound she had never heard from him before, and it made her blood run cold. Flinging off her heels, she ran across the cool tile floor of their expansive living room, her bare feet making a slapping sound with each step. She took the stairs two at a time, knowing something must be very wrong.

Bursting through the door to Elliott’s room, she gasped, seeing him red-faced, sitting up in his crib, covered in vomit. His arms were outstretched, and he took no notice of her as she rushed across the room, shushing him. As she swooped him up into her arms, she gave no thought to her beautiful coral silk dress, which was quickly becoming soaked with urine and vomit.

She pressed her lips to his forehead, now feverish and drenched from crying, as he continued to scream. Her nose was assaulted by the pungent scent of his little body as she rushed to the bathroom to draw him a warm bath.

“It’s okay, baby. It’s okay, Elliott,” she soothed with a quiet, reassuring voice, although she felt no sense of the calm she was trying to convey. Where the fuck was Ian? Why hadn’t he come when Elliott began to cry? Was he okay?

She put Elliott on a towel and stripped off his light sleeper and diaper, depositing both in the Diaper Genie and slamming the lid shut. A second gasp escaped her lips as she cleaned his bottom with a wipe, revealing an angry red rash. He had been sitting in his soiled diaper for what must have been a very long time.

Tears of guilt and pity rolled down Megan’s cheeks as she placed her baby in the water, which she tested first against her wrist. As he sat in the bath, finally registering that his mother’s hands were washing him, his screams finally subsided into the heart-wrenching, shuddering breaths of a child who has been left to cry too long.

Megan sang his favourite song as she continued to bathe him, draining the tub once to rid it of filth and then refilling it with fresh, warm water.

“You are my sunshine. . . .” she sang quietly as she lathered baby shampoo into the wisps of white-blond hair that covered his little head. Her brain was trying to register how this had happened. Had Ian left him here alone? What could possibly have happened?

She finally lifted Elliott out of the tub and pulled the stopper as she bundled him into a fluffy towel on her lap and rocked him back and forth slowly. He must be starving, she thought. Elliott’s little hand touched her cheek and he smiled now. “Mom, mom, mom,” he cooed.

“Come on, little man, let’s get your jammies on and give you a nice bottle. Would you like a bedtime snack?” She whisked him back into his room, where she slathered his bottom with diaper cream in an attempt to combat the violent rash it bore.

Taking him to her bedroom, she quickly slipped her dress off, tossing it onto the floor and pulling on a bathrobe so she wouldn’t transfer everything back to her son now that he was clean. She carried him down to the kitchen, looking for her husband. She saw no sign of him. Where could he be? Hurrying down the stairs to the basement, she finally found Ian passed out in a prone position on the couch in the basement rec room. At first her pulse raced, thinking he might be dead. As she reached him, she could see a line of drool hanging from his mouth, about to land on the floor. One arm hung off the couch, his fingers still touching a half-finished bottle of beer. Five other empties were scattered around the coffee table.

Her relief in finding him alive was fleeting, quickly being replaced by fury as she saw that the baby monitor was turned on and facing the couch. The volume was turned up, meaning he would have heard even the tiniest sound Elliott had made that evening. None of it had registered with him. Drawing a deep breath, she turned with Elliott in her arms, taking him back to the kitchen to feed him. She would deal with Ian later. An hour later, she gently placed her little boy, now with a full belly, into his crib, having changed the sheets when she had brought him back upstairs. His little hand clutched her robe tightly and he whined in protest, burying his face in her chest when he saw that they were back in his room.